Curtis Redgap's Inside History of Plymouth - Part 10

-Curtis Redgap @ Orlando Florida in the 21st Century, year 2000

Installment X

The 1963 Chrysler line was far distant in design from the 1962 models. The design group had wrought a miracle. Lynn Townsend had fired Virgil Exner in November 1961. At the time, the Newberg-ordered "downsized" cars had been hurriedly rushed to production. When Tex Colbert had come back, he had been too bogged down fighting his own demons to really have an influence over the car design. However, when Townsend finally got control, he knew that the 1962 models were a complete disaster, so he ordered a crash change for the 1963 model year.

Exner did not really have a hand in the design of the 1962 Plymouth or Dodge. He was totally out of it, recuperating from a massive heart attack. The board failed to appoint anyone to take his spot during his long illness, so the design work sort of went on a remote control. Daily changes were ordered by anyone higher than the designers. As a result, the two cars met the Newberg downsized limits, but their styling was shrunk without the benefit of resizing it as well. Of course, we all know that they were a sales flop. Dealers went howling after Exner's scalp. Townsend had no choice in the end but to terminate Exner's job at Chrysler. However, the new man, Elwood Engle, newly out of the Ford Lincoln design bureau, made no changes in the Exner designed 1963 models! He told Townsend that they were beautiful cars, as is.

And they nearly were. I do take exception with the Plymouth front end styling. With the parking lights out on the end of the front fenders, viewed from the front, I finally figured out what the 1963 Plymouth looked like. All you have to do is watch the Disney Movie, "The Lion King." It looks exactly like the Wart Hog in that movie! As well, the new Dodge Dart and the mid sized Dodge looked bug eyed and sunken chinned as a result of the headlights being podded at the end of the elongated fender. Yet, the rest of the vehicles showed brilliance in the execution of the design. Dodge introduced a new car on the 119 inch wheelbase, effectively moving it back into the niche it occupied prior to the "Newberg" disaster in downsizing. Plymouth was mentioned, however, it would be two more long years that the Plymouth had to suffice with the downsized wheelbase.

Looking at the 1963 Dodge and Plymouth offerings belied the exceptional effort it took to get them to the stores on opening night in late September 1962. Given the lack of marketability of the 1961 cars, and the subsequent profit margin losses, 1963 models were planned for a face lift only! Can you imagine?

Dad was just beside himself in view of the disaster of the 1962 models. I felt like he did. Remember, on dealer introduction day in June 1961, before the sun had set, over 20 dealers had outright quit the Chrysler Corporation. They would never be back!

To add to the misery, close to 200 Dodge and/or Chrysler/Plymouth dealers were forced to close their doors in 1962 due to poor sales, warranty cheating, or just plain lack of interest. To even consider running those 1962 ruptured ducks for another year was sheer insanity! Lynn Townsend, at least at first, listened to the dealer input. He knew for certain that he had a disaster on his hands. He did not intend to add to it.

His first step in July 1961 was to stop the "S" styling for the 1962 Chrysler and the Imperial. He briefly had entertained the concept of resurrection of the DeSoto with the "S" styling concept that Exner had drawn. He just couldn't do it. It was just too far out, and plain ugly. Wisely, given the marketing department's lack of ability to sell the car, he let DeSoto rest.

He recognized that there was no way he could pull back the downsized Plymouth and Dodge, so he concentrated on their appearances for 1963. After being in the "crash" styling mode to get the 1962 models downsized, Townsend turned around and ordered complete remakes on the Plymouth and Dodge for 1963. Suddenly, it was a crash program all over again! What Exner had set for Plymouth in 1963, was completely changed, with the exception of the front end, (which to me looks like the face on view of a Warthog) all the way to the rear bumper. All new!

To add to that, the Dodge was totally changed, including the wheelbase, which grew from 116 inches to 119 inches, as Exner had originally intended! The stylists, accustomed now to pressure, moved with ease, speed, and grace. So much so, that when Townsend gave in to pressure and fired Exner in November 1961, the 1963 models were all in place. Not bad for 5 1/2 months of work!

To top it off, Dodge introduced a new size car which replaced the Valiant clone Lancer. Based on a 111 inch wheelbase the new "Dart," although sort of bug eyed, was a hot seller at the dealerships. It came in the 170, 270 and GT models. Two doors, 4 doors, Wagons and Convertibles were also offered. The chassis was pure Chrysler, with torsion bars up front and leaf springs in the rear. You got a choice of either the 170 cubic inch six or the 225. Both engines could be backed by a three speed manual or the aluminum cased Torqueflite. Prices ranged from about $1,980 for a 2 door 170 sedan to $2,350 for the GT Convertible.

Opening night was full of excitement. Ford and General Motors had restyled their cars for 1963, and for the most part, Ford looked like it had a winner on its hands. Chevrolet's new SS models were also sharp. As alternatives to the Ford and Chevrolet, Plymouth and Dodge did very well compared to the previous three years!

Dad was at the dealership, but his heart was not in the festivities. Continued pressures from Highland Park to bring all the dealers into some sort of conformity dictated from Detroit just wrangled Dad no end. Fiercely independent, reliance on anyone was totally out of the question for him. With grandpa passing away, Dad lost a lot of heart for focusing on matters that were the daily grind of owning a car store. More and more work got pushed to the General Manager. Finally, just after Christmas 1962, Mrs. Weed, the cornerstone of the administrative functions of the store, announced her intention to retire on New Year's Day, 1963. Mr. Greene, our warranty administrator was having fits as well, so he also decided to retire along with Mrs. Weed.

One of the greatest things that Lynn Townsend did was to put a warranty on the 1963 models that was unprecedented. Every new 1963 Chrysler built vehicle was guaranteed for 5 years or 50,000 miles!

It generated unbelievable floor traffic. We had gotten 1,000 tri-folded flyers explaining the new Chrysler 5/50 warranty. They were all gone within a couple hours on opening night! Oh, there were some exceptions, and a few clauses that let Chrysler out in the event of nontraditional use (racing) or non service intervals, but it was a mainly good warranty, with few problems to it. It also forced the service departments to pre-inspect every vehicle prior to sale and send that back to Chrysler. They were literally breathing down the necks of every service department to see that the provisions of the warranty were enforced to the letter. Stacks of rejections were coming back to Mr. Greene. Not for bad work, but for administrative details that were pretty picky.

Again marketing seemed lost on what to call the "new" standard sized Dodges, which rode on the 119 inch wheelbase. It is surmised to keep in line with the big Dodge 880, numbers were used to designate the models. The base model was the "330." The mid range was the "440" (a portent of the future engine size?) and of course the top was the Polara. Engines ranged from the 225 slant six to the 426 RamCharger V-8.

Although the 426 was offered, it was not meant in any way, shape, or form as a normally driven street engine. After a wonderful year in drag racing circles with the 62 track terrors, the 426 cubic inch "stage III" V-8 continued Mopar's complete domination of the drag strips. Plymouth and Dodge racers broke records at virtually every level they competed. Of course, the 5/50 warranty did NOT apply to these cars. Prices ranged from $2,400 for a sedan to $3,200 for the Polara 500 Convertible.

The big Dodge was the Custom 880, which rode on a 122 inch wheelbase. The 1963 880 got its own front clip, after using a 1961 front clip on a Chrysler Newport body in 1962. It was still pure Chrysler from the firewall back, however, the new front styling did lend a look all of its own. Available as a 2 door, 4 door, station wagon or convertible, the 880 came standard with the 361 cubic inch V-8 and two barrel carburetor. The top engine was the RB 413 cubic inch V-8 borrowed from the Chrysler stable.

The 1963 Chryslers were completely restyled. All the models were now built on the 122 inch wheelbase, eliminating the 126 inch size. Considering what Exner had done to the 1962 models, his last efforts, the 1963s, were stunners in their own right. They represented some of the finest styling that ever came out of Detroit. Models were the Newport, the sport edition "300," the New Yorker, and the limited production Letter series the "J." The "J" was available only in a 2 door hardtop. When Indianapolis Speedway came calling for a pace car, Chrysler had to use a sport edition of the 300 since a convertible was not available in the Letter series. Unique to the 300 series was the 383 cubic inch V-8, that was not offered in any other Chrysler, and the 426 cubic inch single 4 barrel V-8 that developed 375 horsepower. As well, you could order the full race versions of the 426 in the 300 series, if you wanted to try and race the 3,900 pound sedan! It is surmised that the 426 four barrel powered the Indy Pace car, however, the 2,187 replica convertibles were equipped with more mundane powerplants.

One good thing finally came up from the Valiant line and that was the Bendix brake system. At last, the big Chrysler had stopping power to match its go power. One magazine that tested the 300 "J" took the big sedan through a series of torturous brake tests from high speeds. On the 8th near panic stop, the pedal finally faded to near the floor. However, as reported, after a couple minutes cool down, they were right back, ready for another series of stops. Stops of 32 feet from 30 miles an hour and 167 feet from 60 miles an hour were recorded. The brake drums were of cast iron, 12 inches by 3 inches wide. They were heavily flanged on the rims, and deeply finned all the way around. This held their shape and shed heat quickly. Certainly, they were not the police package brakes, however, they were miles above anything coming out of Detroit at the time. Two engine options were available on the "J." Both came from the 413 RB V-8. One was a 340 horse and the other was a hot 390 horsepower engine.

Only 400 letter cars were built in 1963. We did not sell any. Dad took a Newport 2 door hardtop with a 383 two barrel and power everything for his car. We tried mightily to talk Mom into trading her 1960 Valiant, but again she refused, even though the 1963 restyle was absolutely breath taking.

The Imperial models still had those silly free standing headlight things. The rear had been cleaned up and at least the tail lights looked like they belonged to the car, instead of standing up like an egg on a fence post. For the first time, Imperial had no models priced less than $5,000. The convertible model were pushing the $6,000 line. The line did do much better in 63 than 62.

The 1963 Plymouth were as divorced from the 1962 models as Elizabeth Taylor was from Richard Burton. For the first time in a long time, Plymouth was generating its own level of excitement. We had several convertibles and 2 door hard tops in the Sport Fury line. They went on opening night! It was great. The top engine available for standard street use was the 383 cubic inch V-8 that put out 330 horsepower. Unless you were going racing, such as my brother did. His use of the store sponsored 1962 Savoy with the 413 short ram had turned him into a professional driver! With advice from Cousin Jimmy, and the backing of my Dad's money, my brother was able to garner a nice income from racing. He even landed a couple sponsors from Quaker State's local distributor, and Goodyear, and Racemaster tires. Dad may have bought the cars, but my brother got all the income to race them on his own.

We knew we were going to have a good year, when Mrs. Beachum came in and got her new Plymouth, trading in her absolutely cherry 1962 model. She rarely made comments about the cars, but she did like the 1963 styling. She was gratified that we had gotten rid of the "fins" she had not liked. Plymouth continued with its models, the Savoy, the Belvedere, and the Fury. Standard engine was the 225 slant six on all except the Sport Fury Convertible, which was mandated a 318 cubic inch V-8.